Google+
I have been using Google+ for several days already and love it. This will be my new Social Platform moving forward. I will keep my Facebook profile but will do less and less on there.
One experiment I am going to try is to link my G+ to Nirvana using Circles, to see what happens. :-)
Anyone else using Google+?
2 Posted by robmutsaars on 19 Jul, 2011 05:41 PM
Hi Proximo, i am also using Google+ but have no clue what you mean by linking Nirvana to G+ ? But obviously very interested to learn :-)
3 Posted by JamesT on 19 Jul, 2011 06:37 PM
Haven't tried it yet. Still waiting for my invite! (hint hint!)
4 Posted by Jeff Maynes on 19 Jul, 2011 06:53 PM
I love it. It's become popular with a number of tech-savvy academics in my field of study, and it is great to be able to trade papers and stories without cluttering the news feed of others with them, and also to avoid seeing a cluttered feed of unrelated stories from friends, etc. when looking at it (keeping work related social networking separate from personal).
On the other hand, it creates some resource glut, because I get too many new papers to read! ;)
Support Staff 5 Posted by David McLaughlin on 20 Jul, 2011 04:46 AM
Personally, I'm anti-social ;-)
dbm
6 Posted by candeshouse on 20 Jul, 2011 12:23 PM
I just got on this week and am with you Proximo (as usual)...in that I will be moving away from Facebook and to Google + as quickly as I can over time. For those of us that are Google-ized (mail, contacts, calendar, documents, Android, etc., etc., etc. )...this is the perfect fit.
7 Posted by Proximo on 20 Jul, 2011 01:39 PM
@David
Denial is the first sign of a problem. You are a social butterfly and that's why everyone here likes you so much. :-)
@candeshouse
I use Facebook and have many friends there, but I don't trust them as much as Google and I also use just about every Google service available, so G+ is a great fit for people like us.
One thing I explain to people is that Facebook added lost of things to their service as an after though and none of them work that great. Photo's, chat, video, etc. are all added into a walled garden that you must visit to interact with these features.
Google created individual services for photo's, email, chat, video, etc. These individual services were designed specifically for their intended purpose and they are great services. Google is now bringing it all together with G+ and the experience is much better by a long shot. Photo's work better in G+ because it's linked to Picasa (Soon to be renamed to Google Photo's) and if I decided to enhance or edit a photo, I can click edit and Picasa web app launches with things I can do to my photo. If I wanted a higher level of editing, I can jump into Picknik from Picasa and now I can do some high end editing to the photo. When I am done, it's saved to Picasa which is linked to G+ photos. It's just a much better experience.
I also like the fact that Google recognizes that our data is OURS and we can take it with us easily. You can also choose to delete everything from G+ with a click of a button. This is almost impossible with Facebook because they want to own the data you shared on their walled garden.
Facebook blocked an extension that allowed users to export their contact/friends to Google+. THESE ARE MY FRIENDS AND CONTACTS, NOT YOURS FACEBOOK. These type of things is what I hate about Facebook.
With Google+ you can interact with people, even if they don't have a G+ account. So you are not forced to join G+ just to keep in touch with the people you know. If you decide to join G+, it's a great social network, but it's not a requirement for you to do so.
I also like how I can post things public like in Twitter, through G+. It has so much flexibility with what you share and who you share it with. I am putting more public post on my G+ Stream because it's easy and it allows me to add richer content than twitter. Maybe I need to get all my twitter followers to follow me on G+ now. :-)
There are a lot of missing features but Google is working hard to implement them based on user feedback. Sounds like Nirvana to me.
Have not made the jump to Android because it's still a little chaotic but will consider it more now.
Google+ & Nirvana
OK,
Back on topic.
The idea I had with G+ linking to Nirvana is only an idea at the moment. I will need to experiment with it to see if it works or if it's worth it.
I will try this now and see if it works and report back.
8 Posted by Proximo on 20 Jul, 2011 02:35 PM
The Experiment Worked.
First let me start by saying that currently Google+ only allows you to add one type of content to your post. So if you create a post on your Stream and wanted to add a URL link, you can't add a photo or video. If you added a photo, you can't add a link or video.
This is something that Google is working on improving and they will soon allow you to add multiple links, photos and videos to one post.
I say that to explain my experiment.
When you post something to a friend that is not currently on G+, they will receive an email. They can reply to that email to interact with you without having to join G+ or they can choose to join.
I created a circle with just my Nirvana account email on it. I figured if I created a new post on my Stream and shared it only with my Nirvana circle, it should send an email like normal.
But if I added a URL or Photo, how would that work on the Nirvana side?
Well, the email arrived in my Nirvana Inbox and it was filled with lots of information. The title of the task showed up clean but the content of the notes had a lot of info.
But there is a link that directs you to my post from G+ and when I clicked on it, it opens an independent window on my browser (Chrome) that only shows the details of that post.
So the idea is that I could send stuff to my Nirvana inbox using G+ and add rich content such as videos, photos and URL's. I won't see the details of that task inside Nirvana, but the link is there always directing me to the detailed post from G+.
So in my perspective, the experiment is a success. I can send stuff to my Nirvana inbox that will contain a link back to the details regarding the task.
Now the question is, will it make sense for me to use this for certain things?
What ideas do you guys/gals have? Can you come up with examples that would make sense to do this with?
Let me know.
9 Posted by candeshouse on 20 Jul, 2011 03:35 PM
Interesting...I will have to try this out. I have previously used a Google contact specific to Nirvana and sent emails to my inbox from there, but if I thought I could use a Google+, I would think this would make that process at least a little more efficient. Will test that out tonight myself.
10 Posted by Proximo on 20 Jul, 2011 03:59 PM
Another cool feature of Google+ is that you can view your Stream based on a particular circle. So if you only wanted to see all the post related to your Family circle, you click on family and the entire Stream is filtered only by post seen or shared by the Family circle.
If the Nirvana idea makes sense, one cool thing you can do is also filter your Stream by the Nirvana circle which will show anything ever shared to Nirvana. So it's a history of everything shared specifically to Nirvana.
Now I don't know if this is something I will be doing, but it's a neat function of G+.
I am still waiting on any feedback or ideas on using G+ to send stuff to Nirvana. I am sure some people will have some creative things that would be cool to link in this way.
11 Posted by levi on 25 Jul, 2011 03:40 PM
I've been using G+ for a couple of weeks now and like it a lot, but I'm holding out any kind of large-scale transition from FB and Twitter. It is far too new with some bugs and limitations, but I do like it. While it's nice right now in terms of the content I'm seeing, I'm a bit pessimistic that this will change once more people join, and we start seeing the same stuff that's on the other networks, but who knows. Proximo, any possibility you might want to post your profile link so we can follow you there? :)
12 Posted by Proximo on 25 Jul, 2011 08:48 PM
@Levi
You are correct. It's still early and there are bugs for sure. Everything becomes more complicated as the numbers grow and we will need to see how Google handles that.
So far, the experience is great and I am double posting a lot of my Twitter stuff to G+. This is also true for FB but I see myself using FB less and less just because I flat out don't like it.
Let's tread lightly......
My Google+ Profile is http://gplus.to/proximo
13 Posted by Geert on 01 Aug, 2011 02:50 PM
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know I discovered Nirvana and its lively forum last week. After playing around with it for a bit (Nirvana, not the forum), I started migrating from Thinking Rock today.
Oh, and I just started using Google+ too. Nice experiment, Proximo !
My Google+ profile is https://plus.google.com/114592478222036523345/posts
Might as well start a circle called 'Nirvana'. :-)
Support Staff 14 Posted by David McLaughlin on 01 Aug, 2011 04:06 PM
Ya know, Google+ wouldn't let me in until I got a ping from @Proximo the other day -- man that guy has pull...
@Geert - funny, I have a circle called Nirvana too
Still haven't had any time to do any playing around with g+ though -- maybe next month.
David
15 Posted by Proximo on 01 Aug, 2011 05:50 PM
David,
If I had any pull with Google, I would have been invited directly when it first launched. Good thing I had a friend who sent me an invite.
Don't they know who I think I am. I am a Chrome OS beta tested with a CR-48 Chromebook as proof. The nerve of Google not to recognize who I am. :-)
16 Posted by Bernard on 04 Aug, 2011 02:41 PM
Heard excellent things, not so connected as Proximo on this. Soon it will become public or my invite will come :)
17 Posted by Proximo on 04 Aug, 2011 06:07 PM
I would tell everyone to email me if you want an invite, but then I will have no life for an entire week.
:-)